TBILISI, Sept 3: A helicopter carrying Georgia’s defence minister was shot at by rebels from the breakaway region of South Ossetia, forcing it to make an emergency landing on Sunday, a military commander said.

Defence Minister Irakly Okruashvili was not hurt, officials said.

“A few shots were fired at the Georgian helicopter, but it managed to land on the territory controlled by the Georgian side. No one died,” Paata Bedianishvili, commander of the Georgian battalion in the joint peacekeeping force in the area, told Georgia’s independent Rustavi-2 television channel.

Georgia’s independent Imedi television channel showed Okruashvili saying the helicopter was carrying him to Senaki in western Georgia.

“On our course to Senaki our helicopter was shot at. Those were the Ossetian bands ... everyone has to reconcile himself with the fact that the rampage of these rogues will stop very soon,” he said without elaborating.

“For 10 to 15 minutes, we were actually plunging,” he said. “But the experience of the pilot saved the helicopter.”—Reuters